‘MUKHRIZ SHOULD’VE RESIGNED FROM OPCOM’
He should’ve left when he was made deputy minister, says Mubarak president
NAZURA NGAH KUALA LUMPUR news@nst.com.my
DATUK Seri Mukhriz Mahathir should have resigned as Opcom Holdings Bhd (Opcom) president as soon as he was appointed deputy international trade and industry minister on April 10, 2008, to avoid conflict of interest.
Instead, the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia deputy president resigned his post only on August 2009, a year after he was in the government, said Malaysian Council of Former Elected Representatives (Mubarak) president Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman.
He said Mukhriz should have resigned since his company had a business relationship with the International Trade and Industry Ministry.
He said it was possible that mistakes had occurred during business deals between Opcom and the government when Mukhriz was deputy minister.
“It could be worse if he did not declare the interest in the contract.
“Checks need to be done to see if there were any business deals that existed between the company and Mukhriz during his tenure in the government.”
Mukhriz, who is the founder of Opcom, had disposed of 43,600 shares and 605,000 shares in the company on Jan 2 and Jan 3 respectively.
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the fibre-optic company said Mukhriz’s direct interests in the company stood at 40.61 million shares, equivalent to 25.18 per cent, after the disposal.
Opcom began operating in November 1994. Mukhriz was appointed Kedah menteri besar from May 6, 2013 until Feb 3, 2016.
Prior to that, he was deputy minister from 2008 until 2013.
Aziz said it was the practice in Barisan Nasional for any individual who held a post in any business to declare the assets and report it to the leadership.
He said such p e ople we re not allowed to have any business dealings during their tenure in the government and cabinet.